French Alps NORTH, Annecy France
March 8, 2024 - by Muriel Dassen
The impressive mountain range the Alps stretches across the countries of Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and even a bit over Germany and Slovenia. One-fifth of it lies in France. Did you know it has as many as 128 peaks rising above 4,000 metres / 13.123 ft.? With Annecy as our central point we’re at the Northern part of the Alps and we have not 1, not 2, but 3 A-MA-ZING rides here (with ride 3 as our absolute favourite). Of course you can download the GPX / ITN files and full e-books of the 3 rides we have in this tour via our roadtrip planner but you can already find the info in this blogpost.
Annecy is the former capital of the Duchy of Geneva – some 35 km / 22 miles North of Annecy – and now the capital of the Haute-Savoie department in eastern France. The heritage of Annecy is more Alpine than French and particularly visited for its location on the shore of Lake Annecy at the foot of the Alps and for its very picturesque old city. And we have 6 tips on things to do in Annecy, France, during your French Alps North motorcycle tour that we want to share.
If you have heard about Annecy, most probably the first thing that comes to mind is a postcard photo of the translucent waters of the lake reflecting the surrounding mountains. And yes, its location at the far North side of the lake is truly the city's most popular tourist attraction. We will show you that Annecy has more to offer, but surely Lake Annecy is the first thing you see when you arrive and in summer you can definitely take a dip in its crystal clear water and relax on one of the many beaches at its shore. And you can even take a boattrip! It is one of the largest lakes in France and definitely one of the clearest lakes in Europe. You can get one of the most beautiful views of the lake and the surrounding mountains at Le Pâquier, this landscaped promenade of seven and a half hectares on the shores of the lake. Legend has it that a generous lady donated this land to the town of Annecy. A perfect start to explore Annecy, because there are 2 other top things to do very close by.
Because walking from Le Pâquier towards the city centre of Annecy you can cross Le Vassé, the small canal, by the Pont des Amours, one of the most beautiful spots in Annecy as you have a stunning view on the lake to one side and on the city on the other side. Not surprisingly, couples in love regularly choose the bridge for romantic embraces and many times a girl has been asked to marry on this bridge in Annecy. A less romantic version about the origin of the bridge's name is the
fact that prostitutes used to offer themselves for sale here. The Pont des Amours forms the link between the Pâquier and our next tip.
Because walking from Le Pâquier towards the city centre of Annecy you can cross Le Vassé, the small canal, by the Pont des Amours, one of the most beautiful spots
in Annecy as you have a stunning view on the lake to one side and on the city on the other side. Not surprisingly, couples in love regularly choose the bridge for
romantic embraces and many times a girl has been asked to marry on this bridge in Annecy. A less romantic version about the origin of the bridge's name is the fact
that prostitutes used to offer themselves for sale here. The Pont des Amours forms the link between the Pâquier and our next tip.
Coming from the park to the historic centre, you instantly see where Annecy gets the name “La Venise des Alpes” from with the river Le Thiou running through the old centre and it is rich in several canals and bridges. We also have the Ballons des Vosges tour with La Petite Venise - Colmar - as its central point. Seems like the French are quite keen on Venice……
One of the city's most famous and most photographed buildings is this Palais de l'Isle. It’s a beautiful palace from the 12th century in the middle of the river Le Thiou. The building resembles something like a ship in the river and the bridges leading to the island give the complex a very picturesque look. This contrasts somewhat with the building's function in earlier times as it served as a prison and later it was used as a mint, prison, court and town hall. Today, it houses a museum that tells you more about the palace and its functions, as well as the city of Annecy which you can visit for just a few euro’s.
If you have some time, we can also recommend to visit the Château d'Annecy, a beautiful historical landmark. It is situated on a hill, offering a great view over the town when you truly visit the castle. Until the Middle Ages, the city of Annecy was located here on the top of this small rise, but in 1107, a new city began to develop at the foot of the castle, on either side of the river Thiou, now the historic "old city" of today's Annecy. The castle is in quite reasonable condition and you can see that its walls are more than a metre thick in places. Today, the interior consists of a bit of a strange mix of exhibits. But we think it is still worth coming up here.
There are many, many very nice places to have a drink and something to eat in Annecy. It is the perfect place to try some of the famous Savoy dishes: tartiflette, croziflette, cheese fondue, Diots de Savoie or of course, fish from the lake like perch, trout or char and we are sure that you will find something to your liking. But we want to share one last tip, because strolling Annecy's old city streets is fun, but it's even better to do so……with the best ice cream in town! At the Glacier of the
Alps they offer more than 45 flavours an is even considered on of the best ice cream shops in France!
Recommended hotels:
With private parking garage – reservation needed and fee applicable
With bar
In city centre of Annecy
With private parking garage - reservation need and (high) fee applicable
With bar
With swimming pool
In city centre of Annecy
With free private on site - not covered - parking, reservation needed and fee applicable
With bar and restaurant
Coffee/teamaker on rooms
25 minute walk into city centre of Annecy
With free private on site - not covered - parking
With bar
35 minute walk in to city centre of Annecy
With free on site - not covered - parking
With bar and restaurant
Tea/coffeemaker on rooms
With swimming pool
25 to 30 min walk in to city centre of Annecy
With private parking garage - reservation needed and fee applicable
With bar
25 to 30 minute walk in to city centre of Annecy
Rating on booking.com: Good 7.0
With free on site - not covered - parking
With bar and restaurant
Tea/coffeemaker in rooms
3.4 km / 2.2 miles outside city centre of Annecy
Ride 1
The impressive mountain range the Alps stretches across the countries of Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and even a bit over Germany and Slovenia. One-fifth of it lies in France. Did you know it has as many as 128 peaks rising above 4,000 metres / 13.123 ft. With Annecy as our central point we’re at the Northern part of the Alps and with this ride we’re going even a bit more North towards Morzine, a famous traditional ski resort just South of Lac Léman, the lake of Geneva that we should be getting a nice view on as well. The ride is some 218 km / 135 miles. And YES, another tour on the South part of the French Alps is on our list, so check out our website now and then to check out our new tours.
In less than an hour drive we have already started climbing the Col de la Colombiere, which is in total 11.8 kilometres / 7.33 miles bringing us to 1.613 meters / almost 5.292 feet aboce sea level and it is the highest mountain pass we will be doing in this tour. The pass is best known for cycling stages in the Tour de France and connects Le Grand-Bornand in the Borne valley where we just came from with Cluses in the Arve valley where we will be descending to. And there is this bar on top, so perfect to enjoy the views and a coffee!
Again, Morzine is a ski resort in the so called Portes du Soleil with a total of 650 km / over 400 miles skiing slopes. We stayed here during a big Harley rally in 2011 already and did the ride over the Col de la Colombiere to Annecy the other way round. We loved it then and are really glad we got to do that pass again. We’ve added a parking in Morzine at the Eglise Sainte Marie Madeleine because we are sure that you can find a nice spot for lunch from here in Morzine, as this mountain riding sure gave us an appetite.
We almost hit the border with Switzerland - Geneva is situated in Switzerland - and with climbing the beautiful Route des 3 Lacs, the route of the 3 lakes you will get an amazing view on the Lac Leman, the Geneva lake. Because we added a stop at the top of Mont Salève and you will find restaurant L’Observatoir with a nice terrace for another drink if you want before we have some more nice riding to do to get back to Annecy. Closed on Tuesdays though.
Ride 2
With this ride 2 we will be circling around Lac d’Annecy almost in its entirety, but first we’re heading West to go to another lake: Lac du Bourget. The ride is 195 km / 121 miles, of course with some nice stops for coffee and lunch and a mountain pass and castle!
Just after we hit the Lac du Bourget in this ride we will get to our first stop of this ride for coffee is in Aix-les-Bains. Aix-les-Bains is a beautiful place also in the
Savoie department and is mostly known for its thermal springs. It is located on the Lac du Bourget, the largest natural glacial lake in France. And because of its
locations Aix-les-Bains is also known as the 'Riviera of the Alps'. We added a parking at the Grand port as we are sure you will find a place to have coffee
here if you want and enjoy the view on this also beautiful lake.
For our lunchstop we are taking you to Bout de Lac, which means: the end of the lake, because this stop is right at the far South end of de Lac d’Annecy, where Annecy itself is located at the North side. Following the Route de la Plage you can park you bike on the motorbike parking and have a quick lunch at Le Cadre snackbar right at the lake, which does give you almost a Caribbean feel.
From here we still have a nice part of this ride left to discover the area just East of the Lac d’Annecy, going into the mountains that you can see at the background of the lake from Annecy. Not the highest part of the Alpes, but we will be climbing a serious pass.
So the Col de L'Épine is most probably not the highest pass you have ever done, but still 843 metres / 2.765 ft with beautiful surroundings.
Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard
Before we will get some nice views on Lac d’Annecy and get back to Annecy we added the parking with a view on the Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard. It is called a rough diamond and architectural jewel of the Haute Savoie. Sometimes they do eagle shows and it claims that Walt Disney, on vacation in the region, was inspired by it for the castle of Sleeping Beauty. But that is also claimed by Schloss Neuschwanstein in the South of Germany that is in our German Alps Tour.
For more info on the castle you can visit this website.
Ride 3
In ride 1 we went North towards Lac Leman, in ride 2 we went West to Lac du Bourget and in this ride 3 we are going South-East to a smaller, but especially with its iconic Chapelle very pretty lake: Lac Roselend. This ride is 190 km /almost 120 miles going deeper into the French Alps North.
Our first stop is at the Col de Aravis at 1.487 metres / 4.878 ft on the border of the departments of Haute-Savoie where we came from and Savoie which we
will be entering when descending this pass. It is the only mountain pass that crosses the Aravis mountain chain. The Col des Aravis was first included in the
Tour de France in 1911. And you can have coffee here.
To get to our lunchstop of this ride with a view on Lac Roselend, you will have to climb the Col du Pré. This is not an easy climb as it is a very steep and narrow road with very narrow hairpins. This makes the rides the most difficult that we have in all our tours. But, if you have experience and take it easy, it is beautiful and the view extra rewarding. However, we do not recommend to do the ride in the opposite direction as the descend would make the ride even more difficult and some satnav systems don't let you plot it in in that direction anyway.
And we really recommend to make the little detour that is in the GPX / ITN file, because you will get the iconic view of the Chapelle ánd Lac de Roselend. The lake is a reservoir in the heart of the Alps where you can enjoy panoramic views and an oasis of calm. If the weather is good enough, you could also go for a picnic overlooking the turquoise water surrounded by the green mountains.
As it might be a long stretch to our last stop of this ride we have added a parking in Albertville if you want to have a little stretch of the legs here. Albertville is known worldwide for its opening and closing ceremonies of the 16th Winter Olympics in February 1992. It also has the medieval town of Conflans and lively city centre with this Place de L'Europe where you can sit down on one of the terraces if you’d like.
For our last stop we added a stop at the Col de la Forclaz as its gives you an amazing view on the Lac d’Annecy and the possibility to enjoy that view with a drink or ice cream from the terrace. We think this is a perfect way to end the French Alps North tour as it is only a short drive back to Annecy after this stop.
Go on your own QUAZY RIDE
You can download the GPX / ITN files of the rides and the full e-books via our roadtrip planner and then we hope you will enjoy the rides you will be doing in this Quazy Rides French Alps NORTH tour and your stay in Annecy.
If you are posting on social media, don't forget to tag Quazy Rides or use the #QuazyRides, because we LOVE to see you having fun with our rides.
